| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Captain Compassion" |
| Date: |
12 Mar 2006 02:43:29 PM |
| Object: |
North Korea: U.S. Is Preparing Invasion |
North Korea: U.S. Is Preparing Invasion
Mar 12 11:15 AM US/Eastern
By JAE-SOON CHANG
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea
North Korea accused the United States on Sunday of stepping up
preparations to attack and said that justified the communist state's
nuclear weapons program.
North Korea's Minju Joson newspaper cited planned drills with South
Korea and other U.S. military activity in the Asia-Pacific region as
evidence Washington was preparing to invade.
A day earlier, the North put off Cabinet-level talks with the South to
protest the joint military exercises.
The weeklong exercises later this month will involve 20,000 American
troops and an undisclosed number of South Korean soldiers. The United
States and South Korea characterize them as purely defensive.
"The U.S. strengthening military moves on and around the Korean
Peninsula is nothing but a premeditated maneuver to realize its
hostile policy aimed at militarily stifling our republic," the North
Korean newspaper said in a commentary carried by the official Korean
Central News Agency.
"Under the current tense situation, the nuclear deterrent force of our
republic effectively contributes to guaranteeing peace and safety of
our republic ... (We) will make every effort to solidify our self-
defense force."
North Korea claims it has atomic weapons and usually refers to its
nuclear arsenal as a "nuclear deterrent force." That claim has not
been verified independently.
Meanwhile, a South Korean official said Sunday that North Korea may
join an international anti-money laundering organization to prove its
commitment to fighting financial crimes after being accused of
counterfeiting and other misdeeds by the United States.
North Korean officials expressed their intention to join an
unspecified group at a meeting in New York last week on U.S. financial
restrictions imposed on Pyongyang for alleged counterfeiting and money
laundering, the official said on condition of anonymity, citing the
sensitive nature of the subject.
North Korea has said it will not return to six-nation talks on its
nuclear program unless Washington lifts restrictions placed on a Macau
bank and several North Korean companies.
The United States has urged the North to come back to the negotiating
table without conditions. The talks include both Koreas, the United
States, China, Japan and Russia.
The communist state has long claimed the United States is bent on
invading the country, condemning annual joint military exercises with
South Korean troops as a "rehearsal" for an attack.
The two Koreas had planned to discuss exchange projects in a meeting
this month that is part of the highest-level regular dialogue between
the two sides.
The two sides are still technically in a state of conflict because the
Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Relations warmed
significantly after an inter-Korean summit in 2000.
--
"The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing
their memory, or their backbone, but we're not going to sit by and
let them rewrite history." -- ***** Cheney 11/16/2005
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography" -- Ambrose Bierce
"America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy." -- John Updike
"Long term commitment in relationships is only necessary because it takes
so damn long to raise children. Marriage may well be some kind of trick
to keep the males around beyond sexual satiation." -- Captain Compassion
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMverizon.net
.
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
